Supreme Court: The Court said that it may not start the hearing on pleas seeking review of the Sabarimala verdict from January 22 , as Justice Indu Malhotra, one of the judges is on medical leave. Justice Indu Malhotra was the only woman judge of the five-judge constitution bench which had delivered the verdict in the Sabarimala case on September 28 last year. She was also the only judge who renderred a dissenting opinion in a 4:1 majority verdict.
The observation came after lawyer Mathews J Nedumpara mentioned the case and sought live streaming of hearing on the petitions seeking review of the apex court’s verdict allowing all women inside Sabarimala temple, on January 22.
In the September 28, 2018 verdict the 5-judge Constitution Bench held that not allowing women of any age group to enter the Sabarimala Temple was unconstitutional. Justice Indu Malhotra, in her dissenting opinion said:
“the right to move the Supreme Court under Article 32 for violation of Fundamental Rights, must be based on a pleading that the petitioner’s personal rights to worship in the Temple have been violated. the petitioners herein did not claim to be devotees of the Sabarimala temple. The absence of this bare minimum requirement must not be viewed as a mere technicality, but an essential requirement to maintain a challenge for impugning practices of any religious sect, or denomination.”
She was also of the opinion that in the case of the Sabarimala Temple, the manifestation is in the form of a ‘Naishtik Brahmachari’. The belief in a deity, and the form in which he has manifested himself is a fundamental right protected by Article 25(1) of the Constitution.
Read more about the opinions of all the judges in the 4:1 majority verdict here.
(With inputs from PTI)
